


New Sunrise

by lmontyy



Series: EllieDina Week 2021 [2]
Category: The Last of Us (Video Games)
Genre: Canon Lesbian Relationship, Day Two, Domestic, ELLIEDINA WEEK, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/F, Family, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Lesbian Character, Light Angst, Mild Hurt/Comfort, One Shot, One Shot Collection, Post-Canon, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, day two!!!, prompt; dawn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-15 04:28:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29802930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lmontyy/pseuds/lmontyy
Summary: After Joel's death and her trip to Seattle, Ellie finds comfort in watching the sunrise every morning. It becomes her way of dealing with stress. Little did she realize, she never had to wake up at dawn to ease her anxieties. The sunrise she was looking for wasn't outside at all. It was lying in bed next to her.
Relationships: Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us)
Series: EllieDina Week 2021 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2188947
Comments: 10
Kudos: 57





	New Sunrise

**Author's Note:**

> day two!!!! here we go!!!
> 
> the prompt for day two is DAWN. dont forget to follow @elliedina-week for way more content throughout the rest of this week and to stay updated with everyone's hard work!
> 
> THIS FIC IS INSPIRED BY "HALF OF MY HEART" by JOHN MAYER.
> 
> MY PERSONAL SPOTIFY PLAYLIST FOR ELLIEDINA WEEK CAN BE FOUND HERE: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6qf1UYhdoMRyaSLexX5oMQ?si=09Is9tz3TIqK26cp0IvB2Q&nd=1
> 
> MY PERSONAL WRITING PLAYLIST IS ALSO AVAILABLE UNDER MY ACCOUNT TOO, THE USER IS lmontyy (with an L!).  
> (i am also very aware that music taste definitely isnt for everyone – my music is a fucking MESS lol. i listen to EVERYTHING. so let me know what you think if/when you decide to check it out!)
> 
> thanks for reading! enjoy this tooth rotting fluff!

All of Ellie’s life had been dressed in despair and turmoil. Fighting, running, trying to survive. Every day that she woke up, she never knew what would be waiting for her in the real world. Sometimes, as scary as it was, sleep was an escape from the hell on Earth that she lived on every day. And it was all she knew. All she’d ever know.

Fear, every day that she woke up and every night that she went to sleep. Scared to fall asleep, scared to wake up. Constant fear.

Ever since Pittsburgh – all those years ago, so long ago it often felt like a lifetime – that dreadful morning that she wished she’d never woken up. Going to bed with her guard down, only to wake up and watch one of the only friends she’d ever had turn into the inevitable.

A lot of mornings after that, Ellie found herself up every morning, early at dawn, awaiting the sun’s rise and watching the dark sky shift from a deep, space-like blue to a brisk, beautiful bright array of color. The oranges, the blues, the purples. It was the only comfort she found in waking up for many years.

Even while living under her own roof in Jackson, often times she found herself climbing the ladder up to the roof of the little garage home, hands buried behind her head as she laid back and watched the shifting sky and the sun peeking over the towering mountains surrounding the town. She remembered maintaining that habit all of the way until the dreadful events in the basement of the cabin in the Jackson woods, and the nightmare in Seattle that followed afterward.

For many years, Ellie sought comfort in waking up. But after Joel’s death, nothing seemed to comfort her anymore.

That was, until she started waking up every morning in a bed next to Dina.

Dawn would peek through the windows of their room. The only sounds outside the window were the blissful morning breeze hitting against cold glass, and the birds as they started to rise with the sun. Inside the room, the little snores of the baby across from them, and the deep breathing of the woman next to her.

It took so long for Ellie to find comfort again, but when she did, waking up became something she no longer feared.

She remembered one morning in particular. A morning she would never forget.

Outside of the window, purple and orange lit the sky and kissed the mountain tops. The peaks of the mountains were blanketed with snow, reaching out gracefully to the sky as the colors shifted and turned and blended. Normally, Ellie would’ve slipped a coat on and headed outside, looking for some kind of way up to the roof to get a better look at the beauty of the sunrise around her.

But something was different about that morning.

Maybe it was the way Dina’s eyes cracked open shortly after her own, watching Ellie’s face carefully for what could’ve been full minutes before Ellie turned back to look at her and noticed that she was awake.

Ellie nearly flinched from surprise. It made Dina smile.

“Hey, there,” a husky, thick whisper that was completely coated with sleep. Ellie knew she’d never heard anything more comforting and beautiful in her life.

“Hi,” Ellie whispered back, sitting up on the bed and reaching down with a grin to run her long fingers through messy black curls. “What are you doing up so early?”

“You moved,” Dina answered simply. “I thought you got up.”

She snorted lightly. “Oh… no, I’ve been here the whole time.”

“No, shit, dummy,” Dina said as she stretched, reaching her arms over and squeezing her fingers like a child, signaling for Ellie to lie back down and cuddle with her. “C’mere.”

Rolling her eyes and grinning again, Ellie knew there was no resisting. She slowly brought herself back down under the covers, facing her lover when she reached out almost instantly and pulled Ellie as close as she could to her. A soft hand reached out and gently grabbed Ellie’s, bringing it around her waist as if to encourage her to just pull her even closer, somehow.

Ellie knew that, without a doubt, she could’ve stayed there forever.

“What’s on your mind, babe?” Dina’s whisper was so tender and full of warmth. Ellie couldn’t stand it. She couldn’t stand how much she loved her.

“Nothing, just… same old shit from the past, I guess.”

Dina’s deep brown eyes found Ellie’s green ones. There was nothing but adoration written behind the beautiful color. “Like?”

The palm that fell on Ellie’s freckled cheek had her convinced to talk.

“Just, stuff…” she seemed unsure of her own words. “Just how I’d always go up on roofs of houses and stuff to see the sunrise every morning.”

“You used to do that in Jackson?” Dina asked, her genuine curiosity unbinding.

“Yeah, sometimes,” Ellie admitted, glancing over her shoulder and out the window again. “It was just nice to me, I don’t know.”

“How so?”

“Well,” Ellie choked on her own sentences. “You remember that kid I told you about? Sam? And his brother Henry?” Dina’s curt little nod had Ellie remembering just how attentive Dina always was when it came to Ellie’s past. She’d remembered every striking little detail from years of stories. It was endearing. “Just… how they died. I never expected to wake up to see Sam… you know, like _that.”_

She looked away and clenched her jaw. The palm on her face led her eyes back to Dina’s. It got her to continue.

“I just started looking for things to wake up to, reasons to get up every morning and not feel as scared and alone,” she sighed lightly, prompting a small, gentle kiss from Dina against her jaw. “The sun always helped. The clouds, too.”

“Do they still help?” Dina asked curiously, a small tilt of her head making Ellie’s heart swell.

“Yeah, they do.”

It was in that moment, that morning, with Dina in bed beside her, looking so deeply into her eyes that she felt her heart melting behind her chest, that Ellie really realized that the sunrise and the sky had become distant pasts. Almost as distant as the pasts Ellie had tried desperately hard to forget.

The only thing in the world in that moment was Dina. Waking up to Dina was her purpose. Not the sun, not the sky or the clouds of the mountain tops. Waking up every morning and looking next to her to see that beautiful, freckled face snoring away in a deep sleep. Or sometimes waking up to the soft sounds of the record player from downstairs, with a sweet humming to echo the halls of their house and play like a morning lullaby on Ellie’s ears.

Dina was her new sunrise. Dina was her dawn.

Everything just made sense after that.

Turning away from the window and fully facing Dina now, Ellie felt an overwhelming emotion deep in her being.

“I think I found something a little bit better to wake up to than the sunrise, though.”

Dina’s smile set her heart on fire.

**Author's Note:**

> ahhhh the feels :'). a little painfully sweet fluff is what we all need in trying times. happy elliedina week!!!
> 
> don't forget to follow the spotify playlist (i will be updating it as the week goes on) to get a feeling for the vibes i have when i'm writing these! here's the link again: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6qf1UYhdoMRyaSLexX5oMQ?si=09Is9tz3TIqK26cp0IvB2Q&nd=1
> 
> thanks for reading! please leave a comment with some feedback – i live for that shit.
> 
> you can follow my tumblr @lmontyy or lmontyy.tumblr.com. there i post updates on my writing, personal stuff, and i spam with mainly the last of us and she-ra content, with the occasional legend of korra and the walking dead game content, as well. :)
> 
> thank you again! looking forward to thoughts on this.
> 
> much love,  
> monty


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